“Haa. Fuck.”
Raon, who had been held in Jaehwi’s embrace looking into his eyes just moments ago, cursed first at the warmth that disappeared in an instant. Though the dizziness and nausea were less than when he’d teleported using an ability user’s power, the feeling of being forcibly moved to an unfamiliar place in the blink of an eye against his will was truly disgusting.
Cursing repeatedly, placing one hand on his hip and sweeping back his disheveled hair with the other, Raon lifted his head.
At least with the golem there had been a green meadow and clear sky, but now in this place, no matter where he looked—up, down, left, or right—all that entered his eyes was black. Even if it matched his mood, whether he’d have a good conversation was questionable, and he didn’t like at all how gloomy and dreary the atmosphere was from the start.
“I don’t know what you are, but if you have something to say, say it quickly. It’d be better to send me back before the dungeon gets crushed.”
Raon, who spoke muttering in a voice mixed with sighs, lowered himself to sit in that spot. The floor felt like cold, hard marble. He’d been on Jaehwi’s warm thigh just moments ago… Feeling bitter, Raon, who was surveying his surroundings, was calm for someone who’d been suddenly warped.
Darkness so complete that even raising his hand and moving it in front of his eyes, nothing was visible. Eyes closed or open, it was perfect darkness, but he wasn’t scared or afraid. Rather, he was curious how it could be so perfectly black. After briefly looking around while propping his upper body with his arms behind him and stretching out his legs, now he just lay down completely.
If he’d felt anxious and nervous, he absolutely couldn’t have done this. But strangely, he felt comfortable and at ease. This space didn’t seem like it would threaten him, and the existence that had summoned him here also didn’t seem like it would cause harm. However, he couldn’t help but feel irritated at being forcibly separated from Jaehwi and being alone.
He was more worried about Jaehwi, who had lost him right before his eyes again, than about himself. Wasn’t he the one who had said he thought he’d lost him forever that day? Raon recalled Jaehwi’s words that if he hadn’t appeared with the golem, he would have tried to draw out all his abilities, breaking their promise.
Along with that, he recalled the lightning he’d seen with the golem. Would he try to destroy this place in that way too? But back then, since he’d been sucked into the wall, Jaehwi would have known where the hidden space inside the dungeon was, but not now.
Wouldn’t he have literally disappeared in an instant without a trace?
Though he always seemed rational, unconstrained by emotions, Jaehwi wasn’t such a calm child. He’d only suppressed things because of the environment he’d lived in and hadn’t properly learned to express emotions. That’s why he was more unstable and precarious. Even during their secret time that only the two of them knew, though he was the one held in that hot, firm embrace, it was Jaehwi who clung. He now knew that Jaehwi only showed that side to him.
“Speak quickly. You called me because you have something to say, right? Do you want to get out of here too? If you can shrink down to the size of my fist, I’ll think about it.”
As the cold rising from the floor took away his body heat, his mind became clearer. Even so, Raon didn’t stop trying to find light in the perfect darkness. If it were Jaehwi, he’d probably create that kind of lightning in this space again. Though his official ability was fire-type, the strongest ability Jaehwi hid was electric-type.
—Hand small. Me big.
It wasn’t the voice he’d heard earlier when he was with Jaehwi. At the androgynous child-like voice, not the heavy and weighty yet admonishing tone like an elderly person might use, Raon bolted upright.
“What?”
—Now smallest.
“What are you saying. It’s so dark I can’t see anything. Then at least make it bright. I need to see to do something, don’t I!”
—Mm.
At his barked words, a small response came back like a child who’d been scolded by an adult and was shrinking back. At the same time, once again Raon didn’t hold back the curse flowing from his mouth.
“Ah. Fuck. My eyes.”
Hastily covering his eyes with both hands and lowering his face, he tried to block the suddenly pouring light as much as possible. At the sudden attack of stinging, tingling light, Raon squeezed his eyes shut even tighter. Round things in full color burst like fireworks before his eyes. Colorful dots grew and shrank chaotically, even undulating, making his stomach turn.
—…Hurt?
“Fuck. Of course it hurts. Doesn’t it hurt?”
Raon, who had even started dropping tears, could feel with his whole body that the tremendous light was gradually decreasing. Only after the pain of his stinging, aching eyes disappeared could Raon finally open his eyes, wiping away tears with both hands as he slowly opened them.
What was visible through the mixture of light and tears flickering was a pure white space.
It seemed like light was shining through fluttering white curtains, but once again nothing was visible. After perfect darkness, perfect light?
Though the stimulation had decreased, the tears that had started didn’t stop easily, so while roughly wiping the freely flowing tears with his hand, Raon let out a sigh.
“Where are you?”
Show yourself if you want to have a conversation. While you’re wasting time like this, our Jaehwi’s heart must be burning up completely.
—Not here.
Is this twenty questions or what. He felt it would be much better to have a conversation with that old voice that felt slow and cantankerous in speech. Feeling like he was talking with a preschool child whose pronunciation wasn’t even clear, Raon once again carefully looked around his surroundings. Being bright must let him see at least one more thing than when it was completely dark.
But as expected, when only white space was visible without distinction of front, back, left, or right, his chest felt stuffy.
“There’s no time for this. You haven’t met Nox so you don’t know how vicious and strong that guy is. It’s only a matter of time before he destroys this place. It’d be fortunate if only here gets destroyed. This place being destroyed means the dungeon itself collapses, and if he exerted that much power without guiding, Jaehwi’s condition will become a mess too. That can lead to that guy going on a rampage. On top of that, if that guy perceives that I died, the scale of the rampage will get even bigger, right? Even if not to the point of Earth’s destruction, it’s obvious the surroundings will be scorched. Including our center, NCSC will be in emergency. That means it leads to another national emergency declaration, and this becomes a global danger state… In short, it’s fucked. If I’ve explained this much, humanely speaking, show yourself a bit.”
Breathing in deeply and exhaling, Raon spat out words in a stream. Honestly, without thinking at all about what he was saying, he carefully examined what he thought was above. He was trying to check if he could feel vibrations along with lightning.
Raon, who had been looking up, lowered his head to stare at his own hands when they became heavy. An ostrich egg? Honestly, except for chicken eggs and quail eggs, he’d never actually seen other eggs, much less touched or held them. But the moment he saw the egg that filled both hands to overflowing, he could be certain.
“No matter what, for me to live and see this. Really.”
While holding Jaehwi’s hand and going around dungeons, he’d thought about this and that a lot. As thoughts led to more thoughts, he’d speculated, in his own way, about this dungeon’s master, but the reason he couldn’t tell Jaehwi what he’d been thinking until the end was because of this. Because if he didn’t see it, it wouldn’t be believable.
No matter what, does this make sense? Even when dungeons suddenly appeared on the peaceful Earth and ability users emerged, there were many people who couldn’t believe the situation. But as time passed, people were accepting all these phenomena and finding ways to coexist and live.
They learned about monsters, ores, and plants they’d never seen before, and those things gradually seeped into human life. Stronger abilities, stronger weapons, stronger armor. Predicting where dungeons would form, breaking through them, and processing the byproducts that came out to grow even stronger.
That was the way humans had found to coexist with dungeons.
“I’ll hold you like this and take you outside the dungeon, so release the barrier now. It seems Hwiya hasn’t found this barrier yet, but the moment he finds it, you’ll get hurt.”
Instead of his sharp voice filled with uncomfortable feelings, Raon spoke in a soft, warm voice. Firmly supporting the smooth egg with one hand and pulling it closer into his embrace, he caressed the smooth surface with his other hand.
—Angry.
The egg moved slightly and the frightened child’s voice was heard in his head again.
Right. He’d be angry. Since you brought me here without even saying anything, of course he’d be angry. Even before that, Jaehwi had been highly sensitive from the moment he knew they were trapped.
That’s why instead of the standard method of breaking through a dungeon, he’d thought to just release his power right at the entrance and overturn it.
“That’s why you should have said something and brought me, or brought us together. It seems he hasn’t found us yet, so let’s get out of here quickly. Otherwise, he’s going to wildly strike this place with electricity.”
—No!
“Are you water-type or something?”
At the urgent cry, as if disliking being hit with electricity, Raon spoke with a smile. But at the answer that didn’t return, his face instantly hardened.
