Dust fell from the precariously stacked debris as a low rumble reverberated through the ruins. The massive footsteps that had shaken everything around them came to a halt nearby before slowly fading into the distance.

*Thud... thud... thud...* The sound echoed until it completely disappeared, leaving Cha Uijae glaring out into the wreckage with a pale, cold expression. A quiet, deadly aura surrounded him, like a predator preparing to strike.

It was a face Sayoung had never seen before.

Sayoung tapped the fingers covering his mouth, a signal that caught Uijae’s attention. Uijae turned toward him, realizing belatedly that he had been covering Sayoung’s mouth the whole time. He slowly lowered his hand, his face softening into a silent question.

*‘What’s wrong?’*

Sayoung answered aloud.

“Don’t go.”

“What?”

“Stay here.”

Uijae remained silent, listening for sounds from outside the ruins before springing to his feet. He looked down at Sayoung, a smile tugging at his lips—one Sayoung had seen before, back in the guild leader's office.

“It’s fine. I won’t take long.”

Uijae bent down to pick up the staff he had tossed aside earlier. Normally, he would have made up some excuse, said something about taking a breath of fresh air or needing to check the surroundings—things no one would have believed.

Sayoung quietly observed him. On the surface, Uijae appeared calm, someone you wouldn’t believe was in a dungeon at all. 

But the cold sweat trickling down his temple, the pale cast of his face, and the way his knuckles whitened as he gripped the staff tightly told a different story. Physiological responses were harder to hide than expressions.

“...”

He was afraid.

Afraid of what?

Their eyes met again, and Uijae smiled, that same irritating smile.

“Seriously, it’s fine. I’ll be right back.”

Sayoung couldn’t stand that smile.

There had to be a reason for Uijae’s reckless confidence and his tendency to charge ahead without looking back. People around him must have encouraged it—praised him for being a hero, for being powerful enough to save everyone. And they must have been pleased when he acted impulsively, because it made him easier to control.

Sayoung reached out and gently tugged on the hem of Uijae’s gray jacket. Despite the light pull, Uijae turned toward him, a curious look on his shadowed face.

That was just the kind of person Cha Uijae was. Someone who couldn’t ignore a hand reaching out for help. Someone who constantly burned himself out for others. Someone who wouldn’t retreat, even if his own life was on the line. If that’s the case...

“Hyung.”

Someone had to be the chain that kept him from running off recklessly. Someone had to anchor him. And so, Lee Sayoung would gladly become that chain.

A chain made just for J, the one who was weak against the weak.

"Hyung."

"What's up?" Uijae answered quietly, his voice low. But his attention was still focused entirely on the monster that had just appeared.

Its footsteps, breathing, and cries were etched into his memory with brutal clarity. That monster was a *Sasquatch*—the same type Uijae had fought and killed during the *Day of the Rift*.

*‘Still… it’s not the most dangerous one.’*

The Sasquatch was a massive creature with a powerful punch, but its size made it slow. Its shaggy fur also hindered its reactions, and it had a hard time noticing anything smaller than itself. As long as they hid their presence well, Hong Yeseong and the others could likely avoid detection. But...

*‘Maybe it’s better to kill it before it gets too close...’*

The dungeon, having reacted to the newly unlocked title "Conqueror of Solitude," had restructured itself. Uijae glanced around, noting how eerily similar the dungeon now looked to the West Sea Rift. When he first awoke here, he’d even momentarily thought he was still inside the rift.

Was the appearance of the Sasquatch a coincidence? His thoughts were interrupted by a loud, exasperated sigh from Lee Sayoung. For once, Sayoung lowered his gaze.

"I'm in pain," Sayoung muttered.

Uijae blinked, unsure if he had heard him correctly. Had Sayoung just said what he thought he did? He instinctively scanned Sayoung's body, looking for any injuries. He half expected to see him bound by Jung Bin’s chains again. Fortunately—or unfortunately—Sayoung seemed fine, with no visible restraints.

"In pain?" Uijae asked, incredulous.

"Yeah… I'm feeling dizzy," Sayoung mumbled, blinking his long lashes slowly. His pale complexion seemed even more washed out now.

Had he even had a chance to rest since the Artisan Exhibition? Uijae recalled how exhausted Sayoung had looked back then, as if he hadn’t been sleeping properly. A knot of unease started forming in Uijae's chest, and he tightened his grip on the staff in his hand.

"That message you sent saying you were fine… did you send it yourself?"

Sayoung, staring at him for a moment, then nodded slowly.

“Yeah… why?”

Relief washed over Uijae. At least that wasn't a lie. He gave Sayoung a quick once-over.

“You received treatment from the Seowon Guild, right? Jung Bin took you.”

Sayoung nodded again, but this time more sluggishly. “Yeah, I did. But… maybe this dungeon restructuring messed with me….”

He trailed off, resting his head against the wall.

“I just need to rest a little. After that… we can move together. You need to get out of here too, right, hyung?”

“…”

“And we need to find Jung Bin as well.”

“…Jung Bin? He’s here too?”

Uijae played dumb, and Sayoung gave a small nod in response. Good. The faint glimmer of light he had seen earlier must have been Jung Bin. That meant they had a little more time to wait for Sayoung to recover. If Jung Bin was around, they could trust him to handle the Sasquatch as well.

Uijae, after observing the worn-out Sayoung for a moment, sat down beside him, resting his back against the wall. He cradled the staff in his arms and propped one knee up, sitting just a head's distance away from Sayoung. He murmured, his gaze fixed beyond the ruins.

“Sorry, but I can’t wait too long. If you take too long, I’ll carry you out of here.”

“Mmh…”

Sayoung lazily tilted his head toward Uijae.

“But… hyung.”

“What?”

“Isn’t it strange?”

“What is?”

“How did you even get in here, hyung? What’s your reason for being here?”

"…"

“This dungeon isn’t one you can just stroll into by flashing your Hunter ID.”

*Damn.*

Uijae grimaced. Sayoung was way too sharp for his own good. It was a question Uijae should have anticipated from the start, but in his rush to act, he hadn’t prepared an answer. Even if he’d thought it through, there wasn’t really a plausible excuse for a non-Hunter like him to be in an eroded dungeon.

Besides, this dungeon… Uijae wracked his brain.

*Isn’t it under the Wave Guild’s jurisdiction?*

He was screwed. Uijae mentally gave up. He didn’t even have a bluff to fall back on—Sayoung’s questions were always the kind that couldn’t be brushed off with a simple lie.

As tension crept across his face, Uijae’s expression twisted awkwardly. Avoiding Sayoung’s intense gaze, he muttered vaguely.

“Well, you know…”

“Even though the dungeon manager isn’t a Wave Guild member, they’ve been here long enough to manage this place properly.”

That manager was probably still knocked out cold after getting smacked by Kokko. *Sorry, dungeon manager.* Uijae turned his head slightly, counting the cracks in the broken wall. When Uijae remained silent, Sayoung’s probing questions only intensified.

“Running a business is hard enough. What brought you into such an insignificant dungeon? What’s your excuse, hyung?”

“…The restaurant’s been slow lately.”

Uijae’s short response clearly wasn’t the right choice. Sayoung closed his eyes and smirked, clearly mocking him.

“Oh, is that so? For a moment, I thought maybe your secretary didn’t get paid, so you came in to mine some mana stones or something…”

“…”

Sayoung opened his eyes again, watching Uijae’s face intently. His purple irises, devoid of their usual glow, scanned Uijae’s crooked expression.

“Hyung, you’re really…”

Sayoung’s gaze was too intense. Uijae braced himself, waiting for the inevitable string of insults—*Are you crazy?* or *What the hell is wrong with you?* But instead, Sayoung let out a long sigh and muttered.

“Who did you come here with?”

*Ah, damn it.*

Lee Sayoung had a remarkable talent for asking all the questions Uijae couldn’t answer. This wasn’t even Uijae’s fault—every one of Sayoung’s questions poked exactly where it hurt. Even if Uijae *wanted* to give a straight answer, how could he when Sayoung's questions hit so close to the truth?

With his mouth clamped shut, Uijae stared at the messy white footprints scattered on the floor. Moments later, he felt a firm, cold weight lean against him. Sayoung’s soft hair brushed against his ear, sending a brief shiver down his spine.

Uijae straightened up instinctively, but before he could react further, a quiet voice whispered in his ear.

“No way Nam Woojin would come here himself… that guy’s practically a ghost haunting the library.”

“…”

“Did that guy ask you? To investigate this place for him?”

Sayoung was wildly off the mark, but Uijae didn’t even get the chance to shoot back a sarcastic retort.

Suddenly, a string of white system windows appeared in front of him.

---

**[System check complete.]**

**[Dungeon restructuring is now finished.]**

**[A new rank has been assigned to the dungeon.]**

**[The new rank of the Jongno 3-ga underground dungeon is S+!]**