GalaxyTL
Crash!
All the glass decorating the room shattered from the strongly emitted aura.
“Cough!”
The YH Capital employees floated up in the air as if grabbed by the neck by an invisible large hand.
“Ugh, sa-save me…”
Choi Gang-hu, who had been staring impassively at their desperate struggles to escape the unknown force blocking their airways, casually sat on the sofa backrest and gestured to his secretary.
One of the people rummaging through the already chaotic office quickly approached, holding armfuls of documents. Choi Gang-hu quickly flipped through the many documents and frowned.
“So.”
As his deep voice lowered, the man, Secretary Jang, flinched and unconsciously straightened his posture. He had to be on high alert when Choi Gang-hu was rubbing his temples as if having a headache like now.
“Which of these bastards took that kid?”
“We’re still trying to figure that out…”
Secretary Jang could only stiffen his whole body, swallowing hard, as Choi Gang-hu lightly threw down the documents with a thud. Though he was always by his side assisting him, he feared Choi Gang-hu.
Perhaps he felt more fear because he saw and heard a lot up close. He could accept his unfathomable strength as befitting an S-class hunter. What was truly terrifying was his unrestrained behavior that disregarded social norms and his meticulousness in not easily revealing his ruthlessness outwardly. The more he saw, the more chilling it was.
“Go Young-hoon.”
Even now it was like that. Wasn’t he calmly going about his business while people were strung up in the air like laundry on a clothesline? Some weren’t even moving, perhaps already unconscious or dead from lack of oxygen.
“His whereabouts are unclear. We’ve confirmed that he purchased a container in Yeosu, but we’re still tracking his movement route after that as it’s unclear. Given the nature of human trafficking, it’s more likely he moved by ship rather than air.”
Choi Gang-hu, who had been lightly tapping his thigh with his fingertips, rose smoothly. The YH Capital employees who had been suspended in the air by their necks fell to the floor like puppets with cut strings.
He firmly stepped on the back of the head of one of them who was frantically gasping for air in a desperate attempt to live. “Huh, huk, you son of a bitch! Get your foot off!” The thug cursed and struggled, seemingly unaware of the situation.
Secretary Jang’s eyes closed tightly, predicting what would happen next. Choi Gang-hu, who was about to apply force to his foot with an impassive expression, suddenly recalled Ryu Seo-ha’s face. The one who tried to save even those who treated him with prejudice.
Crunch.
“Argh!”
A chilling scream rang out along with the sound of bones being crushed. The thug foamed at the mouth, unable to bear the pressure applied to the back of his hand. While clutching his hand that was shattered beyond what even a fairly skilled healer would shake their head at.
Unconcerned, Choi Gang-hu roughly wiped the blood splattered on his designer shoe sole on the thug’s clothes before placing his foot on the other hand. The thug’s bloodshot eyes widened.
“W-why are you doing this…”
The thug’s eyes mixed with pleading as he unconsciously stammered. If he had just beaten him up roughly or pressed him about Go Young-hoon’s whereabouts, it wouldn’t have been this suffocating.
Choi Gang-hu’s nonchalant attitude, without asking any questions or making any demands, further fueled the inner fear. It felt like he was dealing with a being from a completely different world who could kill people as if playing a casual game.
“I-if you’re looking for the boss, we don’t know…”
He tried volunteering an answer to an unasked question, but Choi Gang-hu applied force to his foot with an expression devoid of any emotion.
Crunch.
“Urgh!”
The thug, who had been shaking his head while trembling, lost consciousness unable to bear the pain of his finger joints being finely ground. The smell of blood mixed with urine permeated the air.
“W-we really don’t know! The boss always handled the final contact and the transaction itself alone, whether it was organs or people! We were only in charge of kidnapping, dismemberment, and initial transport!”
As someone shouted with a voice full of indignation, Choi Gang-hu tilted his head crookedly.
“Was I too gentle?”
His low muttering voice was chilling as he casually put his hands in his suit pockets. Seeing them yelling and insisting they didn’t know, it seemed he had indeed been too gentlemanly.
This is why humans were more troublesome to deal with than monsters. It’s hard to gauge how much leniency to show. Perhaps it’s the price to pay for enjoying many things within the framework of society.
“If you want to live, it would be best to spill everything you know, whatever it is.”
Secretary Jang stepped in to offer sincere advice, unable to watch anymore, but it was already too late. A dangerous skill that had a very high probability of destroying the target’s mind had just been cast on all the YH Capital employees.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Why aren’t you eating?”
The blonde boy who had served milk and feed in a flat bowl asked, tilting his head. Whether he was doing this on purpose or if he was really crazy, Ryu Seo-ha decided to try to figure out his opponent first.
“Thank you.”
He sat down on the ground, smiling obediently. A strange light flashed in the boy’s eyes. Pretending not to notice, he bent his waist, stopping at an appropriate point, then straightened up again, feigning a troubled expression.
“I can’t reach it with my mouth.”
“You can kneel and bend over, can’t you?”
“I’m too dizzy right now. Could you help me a little?”
In response to the bait casually thrown to observe his reaction, the boy smiled brightly and then poured a little milk into his own palm from the teapot. The boy’s expression remained innocent as he brought his hand with the milky liquid pooled in it to Ryu Seo-ha’s mouth.
“Here. Drink.”
Ryu Seo-ha, who had been staring at that face, smacked his dry lips slightly and gathered saliva. The clear saliva he slowly spat out mixed with the milk on the hand. He didn’t forget to smile with his eyes at the boy who was blankly staring at the scene.
“Ahaha!”
The blonde boy suddenly burst into loud laughter. What was so funny? The milk and saliva pooled in his hand sloshed around and spilled onto the dirt floor. He didn’t seem to be pretending to be crazy on purpose.
“Don’t do that too much. You’re making me all excited.”
The boy, who had been laughing for a while, shook his head. He seemed to have noticed that Ryu Seo-ha had deliberately provoked his anger. His attitude was still light. In such cases, ordinary people would usually reveal their true colors.
“Where do you think this place is?”
Anyway, it seemed like they were gradually getting to the main point as he had intended. Ryu Seo-ha, who had been quietly staring at the boy asking with a smiling face, glanced around at the coniferous forest hanging yellow orbs.
“We’re inside a dungeon.”
“A dungeon?”
“Yeah, so if you were thinking of escaping, you should give up now.”
He lies so casually. The yellow orbs forming on the leaves of the dungeon-grown conifer, the Hwangju tree, are sensitive to mana concentration in the air, so when transplanted to Earth, they become slightly more oval-shaped. Like the orbs hanging on the trees spread out before his eyes.
Ryu Seo-ha quietly gauged the other’s intentions without saying anything. As he just said, it’s probably a ploy to make him give up on attempting to escape.
“This place is literally a natural prison.”
He read an indescribable admiration in the boy’s eyes. With a strange intuition, content from the original work suddenly flashed through his mind. Skillfully hiding the feeling of his heart sinking, Ryu Seo-ha slightly crinkled his eyes.
“This is only my second time… but I’m surprised every time I come to a dungeon.”
“Huh? By what?”
“I think it’s more amazing the more I see it. Maybe it was because it was my first experience, but honestly, the previous dungeon was much closer to my taste than this one.”
The blonde boy’s eyes sparkled visibly at the nonsense he didn’t really mean.
“I’ve never been able to enter a popup dungeon either. What was it like?”
“On the surface, it wasn’t much different from Earth, so it felt strange.”
“I’ve seen interviews with other survivors. They said it felt worse because it was in the form of a ruined city.”
“I just somehow liked it. Even though I knew it was dangerous… maybe because there were no residents, the sky was clear and the air was clean.”
“Right? From Earth’s perspective, humans polluting the environment are really pests.”
As they exchanged this meaningless conversation, his vague intuition was turning into certainty. Regardless of what his identity was, it was clear that the boy in front of him was the type who revered dungeons and monsters.
“I think we might understand each other better than expected… What a shame. If only you weren’t a healer.”
The boy, who had been unable to hide his excitement with a flushed face, made a genuinely regretful expression.
“What’s wrong with being a healer?”
When he tilted his head and asked innocently, the boy, who seemed to hesitate a bit, sighed and shook his head.
“I can’t tell the sacrifice too much.”
Sacrifice. It was an ominous word just to hear. It was also a word that appeared ad nauseam in the latter part of the original novel.
‘The Cult.’
A shadowy organization simply called ‘The Cult’ without any modifiers. Its motives are presumed to be based on conspiracy theory secret societies like the Freemasons or Illuminati. Although their purpose was completely different, they were a group with as much global influence.
Although he had expected it to some extent, having it confirmed sent chills down his spine. The Cult’s purpose was to purge humanity. They were an organization that likened dungeons to heaven and monsters to angels, condemning the sins of humans who harm the Earth.
These people would later come to worship Choi Gang-hu as a messiah for some reason, falling into fanaticism and producing countless victims regardless of the will of the subject they revered. “Sacrifice” was the word that referred to those victims.
“You mean you’re going to kill me?”
“Well… ultimately?”
The Cult must have been continuing the work of extracting and storing mana from awakened ones for the messiah who would someday appear before them. The reason they’re treating healers as particularly special ingredients must be due to the nature of their mana.
He had no intention of complaining about why the final villain organization that should only appear in the latter part had shown up already. Since when did things in the world always go in order? The reason Ryu Seo-ha became a target was probably because the fact that he awakened as a healer became widely known.
“I don’t like pain though…”
“But you’re okay with dying?”
The boy asked back with a curious expression at Ryu Seo-ha’s unexpectedly calm reaction.
“Of course I don’t like that either.”
“Then why are you so calm? Maybe it hasn’t sunk in yet? Should I show you the altar?”
As it had been from the first impression, he really didn’t seem to be in his right mind. The boy was seen untying and grasping the iron chain that had been tightly wrapped around a nearby tree, seemingly intending to move to the altar.
Extracting mana from a person requires a very complex process. So they can’t attempt it right away. But he had no intention of going along obediently.
Rewards waiting to be received:
Ryu Seo-ha viewed the list of rewards he had earned for clearing the popup dungeon.
Moonlight Silver Thread (D+): A growth-type item whose grade is readjusted when certain conditions are met. Can produce an infinite amount of sharp thread made of pure silver.
An item with no cooldown, no user restrictions, and no engraved skills. It felt strange. Not only had he directly obtained the weapon that Kwon Se-jeong had favored in the original work, but to use it in this way.
Do you want to receive this reward? Y / N
As soon as he accepted the message, a small thread ring was placed in his hand tied behind his back. His breath quickened with unavoidable tension. With his eyes tightly closed, he rubbed the thick decoration with his thumb. Raising his arm as much as he could bend it.
“…!”
The next moment, a blade-like silver thread shot out from the ring, instantly cutting off his wrist.