The moment the woman’s scream rang out, a shadow fell across the faces of everyone in the office. Of all places, there was a daycare in the building where the Dungeon Break had occurred. It was nothing short of a nightmare.
“Right. There was a daycare on the second floor of the Central Management building, as part of a welfare program,” Han Jaeyeong said in a tone that didn’t sound particularly grave. “And around this time… isn’t it usually afternoon nap time?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” the staff member replied in a trembling voice. “They sleep until exactly five o’clock, so I’m sure the curtains would’ve been drawn!”
I blinked at a detail I hadn’t considered. The building was made of floor-to-ceiling glass, so sunlight would normally pour in everywhere. But if it was nap time at the daycare, then… there was a high chance the curtains were closed. And since Hunters rarely visited at this hour, it was likely only civilians were inside…
Every possible factor was stacking up in the worst way.
“Shadow monsters… If we go by the Hunter’s explanation, then the daycare definitely—”
“That makes sense. Monsters do prefer smaller prey.”
“Hunter Han Jaeyeong,” Yu Hanul cut in with a brief warning.
Han Jaeyeong raised both hands. “I’m just stating the facts. Accuracy matters.”
“Please don’t stir up anxiety… Still, we can’t allow this staff member to leave. You two, come here. Sit her down on the sofa. Make sure she doesn’t go out.”
“Huh? Y-yes!”
"Understood!"
The two rookies who had been singled out grabbed both arms of the staff member, who was struggling as if she might bolt at any moment, and forced her back into the chair.
Another female staff member beside her fidgeted helplessly, not knowing what to do. “Oh dear, Hyejin. Your child will be fine. Okay? Try to calm down.”
“How can I calm down in a situation like this?! Please, let me go!”
“Even if you go out now, you’ll only be eaten by the monsters. And shadow ghosts increase their numbers when they feed. That could make things even worse for your child.”
“But—!”
“Um, don’t daycares usually have surveillance cameras these days? If we could at least check the situation through those…” One of the rookies raised the question in a timid voice.
At that, the staff member’s eyes flew open as if she’d been struck on the head with a hammer. “R-right!” She immediately started hammering away at a laptop keyboard, practically screaming as she did.
“But when a Dungeon Break happens, all external connections in the area are completely cut off. There’s no internet, can we even access the cameras?”
“They’re on the internal network, so it should be possible. And the building’s emergency generators keep the emergency lights and surveillance cameras running, so—ah…” The staff member covered her mouth with both hands.
A chorus of pained sighs escaped from those watching the screen. Outside the daycare’s characteristically large windows, monsters could be seen prowling about. Creeping shadows rippled and swayed just beyond the doors. Perhaps fearing the monsters would notice if it was bright, the windows were covered with curtains. Behind them, two women who appeared to be teachers were crouching as low as possible, hugging what looked like around fifteen children. Even through the camera’s poor resolution, it was clear they were trembling.
Even Han Jaeyeong clicked their tongue. “This doesn’t look like a situation where we can sit around waiting for rescue.”
The woman let out a piercing scream. “Ayeong! P-please! Let me go!”
“I can’t authorize that. Sending in a civilian would only increase the number of casualties,” Yu Hanul said as he rose from his seat. “I’ll go.”
I’d expected nothing less and sighed inwardly. After all, he’d been a hero in a previous life, what else could you expect? Even though a message about his overall level temporarily dropping after inhaling that unidentified smoke must have appeared to everyone, he didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
“Th-thank you! Thank you so much!”
At his straightforward offer to rescue them, the woman collapsed against him, clutching both of Yu Hanul’s hands. Her face overflowed with gratitude and perhaps even reverence. She looked as though she were staring at a god. It was the reaction of a mother desperate to protect her child.
“My Ayeong is the child wearing the hat on the camera. Please, hurry…”
“Yes, don’t worry. Of course, I’ll protect all the children at the daycare.”
Yu Hanul gave the woman’s hand a firm squeeze once, then let go and turned away. For a moment, I couldn’t tell whether what flickered through her eyes was shame or fear.
Yu Hanul glanced back at me briefly. That was unmistakably concern. I shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like the time to be worrying about me.”
No matter how much of an S-rank Hunter someone was, if they couldn’t use mana, then aside from an enhanced body they were basically no different from an ordinary person. Better than a mage who couldn’t cast spells, perhaps… but swordsmen were fundamentally a poor match for mental-type monsters. That realization made the meticulousness of whoever had orchestrated this incident all the clearer.
Maybe they chose this method because I escaped the last crisis using magic. Or maybe they did it with Yu Hanul in mind, knowing we’re together.
There were many possibilities, and for now, they were all just assumptions.
Yu Hanul smiled at my words. “Thanks for worrying about me.”
“I didn’t say anything like that. Where did you squeeze that meaning out from?”
“My own intuition. As for Hunter Han Jaeyeong—”
“Oh, in that case, I’ll just watch through the cameras.” Han Jaeyeong waved their hand limply. They truly looked unmotivated. “If a mage can’t use mana, they’re honestly useless. I wouldn’t even make a good meat shield. My stamina and strength are trash.”
“Then do so. We need someone to protect the trainee Hunters anyway.”
“Ah, I can’t promise I’ll actually protect them~”
At this point, no matter how easygoing someone was, it would be irritating. Yu Hanul was no exception. He turned to Han Jaeyeong with his eyebrows raised. “Han Jaeyeong, cut the jokes and read the room.”
“Being serious about everything is your good point, Hanul. Have a safe trip~”
He looked like he had more to say, but Yu Hanul didn’t continue the exchange. Maybe he thought anything more would just be a waste of time. After giving the rookies a few more instructions, he ran straight out through the glass doors.
After Yu Hanul left, Han Jaeyeong said as if they felt refreshed, “Finally, the noisy nag is gone.” When I stared at them, they smiled shyly. “Hey, Hunter Jeong Daon, you’ll understand once you work with him. He’s incredibly controlling. It gets really tiresome.”
They sounded like someone talking about an ex. With a personality this unpleasant, how had they survived until now? It had to be thanks to either their skill or their outstanding looks.
When I didn’t engage, Han Jaeyeong glanced around the office, then spoke to the staff member who had slumped down and was wiping away tears. “Hm, if it’s internal infrastructure, can’t we view the surveillance footage?”
“Uh, there is a surveillance camera folder, but… only security personnel are allowed to access that…”
“Could you hand it over for a moment?”
After taking the laptop, Han Jaeyeong tapped away at it for a bit. Soon, surveillance feeds from cameras installed all around the building appeared on the screen.
“What? Magic?”
“It is magic. I got my hands on an ID that can access this building’s internal network.”
So it was plain old ID theft. The name displayed on the intranet was the title of the Director of the Central Management Office. Well, for someone in Han Jaeyeong’s position, it wouldn’t be strange for them to know that information.
When I stared again, Han Jaeyeong smiled and winked one eye at me. “Let’s keep this a secret from the director.”
“As if.”
I scoffed, but the situation on the screen caught my interest, so I turned my gaze back to the laptop. Thanks to the surveillance cameras installed throughout the building, the interior was clearly visible.
“H-hik… that, that blood in the hallway…?”
“Damn, there are already victims…”
The rookie Hunters, who had gathered to watch the screen without realizing it, stared in horror. The cameras showed vivid, brutal traces of survival everywhere. Pools of blood, people collapsed and convulsing. Over their fallen bodies, black, shadow-like masses swayed and writhed.
“They’re probably not dead yet. Shadow ghosts drain vitality slowly by forcing their victims to relive the nightmares they fear most.”
“That’s so comforting to hear.”
Yu Hanul had explained it succinctly, but shadow ghosts were not easy monsters. They instilled fear in the form of shadows, pried open cracks in the mind, manifested those fears as nightmares, then opened their maws and sucked out human vitality. The nightmares didn’t stop until the very moment life was extinguished. For the victim, body and mind were tormented simultaneously. Unlike succubi or incubi, which steal life while providing pleasure until the moment of death, these monsters deliver nothing but suffering down to the very core of the soul.
If the person who caused this Dungeon Break had deliberately chosen shadow ghosts as well, then this enemy clearly hated me to the bone.
Clang, bang!
Of course, none of that really applied to Yu Hanul, who could be seen beyond the camera feed.
“How is he doing that?”
“I thought his stats dropped…”
Yu Hanul’s figure as he faced the shadow ghosts on the other side of the camera looked overwhelmingly dominant. After leaving the office, he headed straight for the restroom next door. A loud crashing sound followed, so it seemed he had smashed and removed the mirror attached there. Carrying the mirror, he reached the emergency stairwell, tore off the emergency door leading to the stairs, then smashed the mirror again.
Up to that point, I’d been wondering what he was doing. Then Yu Hanul reflected the light coming in through an exterior window with the mirror and shone it into the emergency stairwell. Light spilled into the passage that had been filled with nothing but darkness, save for the emergency lights.
Only then did I understand what he was trying to do.
He really does have good instincts.
A shadow ghost’s weakness was light, especially sunlight. He was using mirrors to artificially bring that light in.
How did he come up with that so quickly? Given the circumstances, mirrors were indeed the most practical way to bring sunlight into an emergency stairwell with no exterior windows.
“Then why isn’t Hunter Yu Hanul taking the elevator instead of the stairs?”
“The power’s out, idiot.”
Leaving the self-learning rookie Hunters to themselves, I continued to watch Yu Hanul.
Once he had brought light into the dark stairwell, his approach was simple. He sprinted straight to the edge of the illuminated area.
Of course, a single beam of light didn’t banish all the darkness. A shadow ghost that had been lurking in the dark lunged toward Yu Hanul.
But Yu Hanul didn’t fall for it so easily.
Kieeeek!
He skillfully lured the attacking shadow ghost into the area lit by the reflected light. As the monster, fixated on its prey, hesitated for a split second under the light, Yu Hanul fearlessly thrust the hand holding his sword straight into the ghost’s gaping maw.
Crunch!
There was no sound, but the monster died instantly. It looked simple, but the speed of judgment and agility required to pull that off were nothing short of acrobatic.
“Impressive, right?” Han Jaeyeong, who was watching beside me, smiled. “Moments like this make me envy swordsmen. When your body’s that good, why bother using your head, right?”
You don’t seem to use your head either.
Still, I couldn’t disagree.
Whether or not Yu Hanul retained memories of his past life… he had been an exceptional swordsman even back then.
The first time I heard of that hero’s fame was when he rose to the position of youngest Swordsmaster as a commoner. I also remembered the emperor praising that achievement and appointing him as the knight commander in an unprecedented move. The emperor poured holy water over his head in blessing, and bestowed upon him that dazzling silver armor.
…All memories of the past now.
There’s really no need to worry about Yu Hanul.
Shaking my head to dispel the unnecessary recollections, I turned my eyes to the daycare feed.
“…Please, please… Ayeong…”
Perhaps the mother’s desperate prayer had been answered.
Fortunately, the monsters crawling through the corridors hadn’t yet picked up on any signs of life beyond the door, merely wandering about. Since they basically reacted to sound, the teachers’ control still seemed to be holding.
How long will it take Yu Hanul to reach the second floor?
He looked unstoppable on screen, but with his abilities restricted, Yu Hanul was moving more cautiously than usual, and his pace was slow. Even as he advanced while constantly setting up mirror fragments, the emergency lighting indicator now pointed to the sixth floor.
It’ll probably take another ten minutes…
The moment that thought crossed my mind, one of the people watching the screen leaned in so close their nose was almost touching it.
"Huh?"
“H-huuh?”
And then I was startled too.
"What?"
Yu Hanul, who had been tearing through monsters just moments ago, had vanished from the camera feed as if he had never existed in the first place. Now the screen showed only an empty corridor, blood-soaked stairs, and writhing shadow monsters.
I reflexively turned to Han Jaeyeong. They were smiling brightly, but it wasn’t a smile of joy.
“This is getting interesting.”