Only then did Choi Haegang turn his head. He looked no different from before.
A blank expression, as if something in him were loose.
But there was something assessing in his eyes, and it made Yeom Hajae suddenly uneasy.
Choi Haegang, his face unreadable, looked at Yeom Hajae, who flinched. He knew exactly why Yeom Hajae was reacting that way.
He’s hoping Kim Cheolsu is alive.
He stated it flatly.
“He’s dead.”
‘…….’
Yeom Hajae’s expression froze in place.
After a moment of blankness, Yeom Hajae bit down on his lip. Then, staggering, he walked toward Choi Haegang.
With a forceful grip, he grabbed the shoulder of Choi Haegang, who looked down at him with no expression.
A tremor passed through the shoulder Yeom Hajae had grabbed.
As Choi Haegang watched the trembling hand for a moment, Yeom Hajae asked quietly.
“Are you sure? That he’s dead….”
Choi Haegang recalled the man’s final moments.
Blood flowing from his chest.
His side pierced through by a fork.
His legs, broken and dangling.
And finally, right before he was eaten, his face—covered in blood, smiling.
That—
was bizarre.
It was completely different from every death Choi Haegang had ever witnessed.
The moment of a brutal killing. Wasn’t it normal for someone who sensed their own death to be gripped by terror? Freezing up, crying, thrashing, or staring in shock….
That’s how all humans were. Even Yeom Hajae, probably, would be the same in his final moment.
Someone who died with an expression like that, looking satisfied—
“Where’s the body?”
‘…….’
He hadn’t seen it.
But the man had gone into the monster’s stomach in a battered state, so even as an Awakener, the chances of him being alive were slim.
Choi Haegang made his decision.
Even if there was a small chance the man was alive, voicing that possibility out loud would be dangerous.
Look at that desperate face.
If there was even the slightest chance the man was alive, Yeom Hajae would charge out right now.
Recklessly, to try and save him.
There were still many survivors here. He couldn’t let Yeom Hajae act on impulse.
So—
“He was eaten by the monster. There’s no body.”
For everyone’s sake, it was better to tell them he was dead.
Though he had no idea how the man, who’d vanished after making himself bait, would feel about that.
“…No way….”
Yeom Hajae’s expression crumpled completely. As if trying to hide how shaken he was, he dropped his head.
Choi Haegang quietly watched him.
Yeom Hajae.
Someone he had no memories of, but who he’d known as the older brother next door since childhood—an acquaintance of his.
The two of them had gone into dungeons together for the past ten years.
They’d watched plenty of people die together over that time. It wasn’t even rare for someone Yeom Hajae had tried to save to end up dying anyway.
And yet, this was the first time Yeom Hajae had clung to someone’s death like this.
He’d thought he knew everything there was to know about Yeom Hajae.
But it seemed that had been a misconception.
What about that man had affected the leader this much?
…….
There was no point wondering about it now. The man was already dead anyway.
Just as Choi Haegang was sorting through his scattered thoughts, Yeom Hajae suddenly lifted his head.
“Where’s Minjun?”
‘…….’
Choi Haegang thought.
He’s probably hiding somewhere.
“If it’s that hyung, isn’t he probably hiding somewhere?”
The youngest member answered, but his tone made it clear he wasn’t taking it too seriously either.
“But the fact that he still hasn’t come back….”
Belatedly, Yeom Hajae’s expression turned worried.
“Hiding is his specialty. He’s probably just scared because of the monster.”
If Kim Minjun had heard that, he probably would have gotten angry and demanded to know what they thought of him—but fortunately, he wasn’t there to hear it.
To cut to the chase, under Yeom Hajae’s lead, the youngest member ended up accompanying the leader to go look for Kim Minjun.
As it happened, the monster had stepped out briefly while cleaning up the wrecked kitchen, to dispose of the debris.
The timid youngest member was reluctant to go, worrying that the monster could appear again at any moment.
He grumbled discontentedly.
“He’ll come back on his own eventually, so why do we have to—”
But—
‘…….’
“…Fine, I’ll go.”
Under Yeom Hajae’s pressure, he reluctantly went along.
Left alone, Choi Haegang’s eyes grew distant.
It was clear Yeom Hajae had other motives, but regardless, there was no reason for Choi Haegang to stop him from going to look for a missing comrade.
Before long, the two of them really did come back with Kim Minjun. Apparently he’d been lying unconscious in a corner.
Choi Haegang laid Kim Minjun down in an open spot and glanced over at the leader sitting beside him.
He was staring blankly at a blood-stained button in his palm, lost in thought. It seemed he’d picked it up along with Kim Minjun.
Looking away again, Choi Haegang slapped Kim Minjun’s cheek.
“Ngh….”
Groaning, Kim Minjun opened his eyes, looking half-asleep.
“Wake up.”
Smack!
“Ugh, I—I’m awa—”
“Wake up.”
Smack!
“Ah!”
Kim Minjun jolted upright.
“I said I’m awake!”
“Quiet. We’re still inside the dungeon.”
Choi Haegang scolded him coldly. Kim Minjun reflexively went to protest, but caught Yeom Hajae’s eye beside him and shut his mouth, looking embarrassed.
“Minjun, are you okay? What happened?”
“Ah…. Somehow I ended up hiding nearby….”
Explaining in a hoarse voice, Kim Minjun suddenly stopped talking. He rolled his eyes for a moment as if recalling something, then looked around.
After checking the faces of everyone around him, Kim Minjun asked, puzzled.
“By the way, where’s Cheolsu?”
An unexpected name came up. Choi Haegang’s eyebrow twitched.
Yeom Hajae, who had been slumped over, looked up in surprise and asked.
“What? You saw him?”
“Yeah…. We were together right up until I passed out.”
“Tell me. What happened?”
Kim Minjun’s expression turned awkward at this rare sight of the leader.
“After the leader and the youngest left, I was trying to make my way back here, and….”
The explanation continued. The other three hadn’t properly seen any of it, since they’d been busy fleeing.
“…and then I just blacked out.”
After the story ended, Choi Haegang fell into thought.
So he hadn’t been caught by the monster and eaten immediately. There had been a chance to escape.
And—
“You said you collapsed?”
“Yeah. My eyes were closed, so I didn’t really see what was going on.”
According to their scouting, there were no monsters other than the giant. Could it have been that Awakener?
“So where’s Cheolsu, then?”
‘…….’
Silence.
In that brief moment, the sound of survivors crying quietly and the monster clattering dishes drifted over.
Each guild member, lost in their own thoughts, said nothing—but from their reactions, Kim Minjun could guess.
He’s dead.
That’s when it happened.
The youngest member spoke up, sounding confused.
“Wait a second. An empty glass jar? There wasn’t anything like that where this hyung was lying.”
“Huh?”
“Now that you mention it….”
Yeom Hajae nodded.
The question that had been focused on why Kim Minjun had collapsed shifted to something else.
In truth, the answer was simple.
After knocking Kim Minjun out, Seo Sinwoo had climbed back into the jar of his own accord.
Then the monster had taken Seo Sinwoo out and set the jar down somewhere else.
That’s why, when Kim Minjun was found, there had been no empty jar nearby.
But the four of them never considered that Seo Sinwoo had walked into the jaws of death by his own choice.
Naturally, their reasoning veered off in the wrong direction.
“Did he move me somewhere?”
“Don’t tell me that’s why he got caught again….”
The youngest member fell silent. Because as he said it, it had started to feel like he was blaming Kim Minjun.
But that guess had already settled into everyone’s minds as if it were established fact.
Choi Haegang thought.
This was a man who’d dodged even his own attacks with a casual smile on his face. It was strange that he’d been helplessly eaten without using his ability even once.
Even seeing him smiling to the very end, Choi Haegang hadn’t been able to shake the suspicion that he had something up his sleeve.
What if he’d lured the monster away to protect Kim Minjun?
And then, having used up his strength doing that, ended up caught with no other choice….
Especially since the man had already spent strength facing off against him.
Choi Haegang’s expression furrowed faintly.
But even if this guess was true, it didn’t resolve the doubt nagging at him.
Why would he have saved a hunter? Facing death, why had he smiled with such a refreshed expression?
To save the hunter and his companions, who’d come at him intending to kill him—why would he….
Just as the doubt was deepening further—
“Meow—”
A cat that had appeared from somewhere darted swiftly out of the shadows.
“Whoa. Kitty! Don’t go!”
The youngest member chased after the cat. Had he grown attached to it without realizing?
Cheolsu….
Yeom Hajae remembered that the cat had been the one the dead man brought along, and felt his mood sink further.
Minjun must have survived because of Cheolsu. And that cat too….
Yeom Hajae lowered his head.
Sacrificing himself without hesitation was the very embodiment of Yeom Hajae’s ideals. As he turned the disappeared man over and over in his mind, an unconsciously, an obsessive feeling began to take root in his heart.
That’s when the youngest member, who had gone after the cat, suddenly poked his head back in.
“Guys!”
“Hm?”
His raised voice drew everyone’s attention. Just as Choi Haegang was about to warn him not to make noise—
The next words left everyone speechless.
“The escape gate is open!”
‘…!!’
Each of them had been too lost in thought to notice, but looking back, the monster’s sounds had stopped at some point.
Realizing this, the hunters all rushed out at once.
And what they saw was—
A massive hole where the monster had been.
***
The cat that came out through the gate landed lightly on the ground.
Outside, the sun was already rising.
Stretching in the sunlight, the cat looked around.
A trail of still-wet blood near the gate led off somewhere.
The cat put its nose to the remaining bloodstains and sniffed.
Sniff, sniff.
Its green eyes fixed on the dark alley the bloodstains led into.
“Meow….”
The cat stepped briskly into the alley.
A moment later.
A familiar figure came into the cat’s view.
Seo Sinwoo—the man everyone caught up in the gate believed dead.
Right now, he was—
“Hah, hah….”
crawling along the ground of the alley. Everywhere he passed, he left behind pools of blood.
The cat trotted alongside him, chattering away.
“You’re gonna die soon, meow. No point trying so hard, meow…. It’s painful to watch, meow.”
Seo Sinwoo gritted his teeth. Honestly, he felt like death.
I’m not dying….
He’d never found this cat as irritating as he did today.
“If you’ve got time to say that…, cough!“
Get me a medical team, or….
Blood welled up and he couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Hah….”
Drained of strength, Seo Sinwoo leaned his back against the wall.
“What are you doing, meow? No time to rest, meow.”
He couldn’t even move a finger, but the cat hooked its claws into his pants. He’d lost all sensation, so it didn’t even sting.
Just as he was trying to force his unresponsive body to move, footsteps echoed through what should have been a quiet space.
Two people.
The cat quietly came over and hid beside Seo Sinwoo.
Seo Sinwoo readied himself to attack.
The Prohibition had ended, so he could use his ability again.
He raised his power as high as possible. Just as he was about to strike before the other person could notice him—
He realized the footsteps were falling into a familiar pattern.
“Boss…?”
