The laughter of the fairies filled the air around them.
Those who looked down at the corpse were so terrified they couldn’t even breathe properly. The supporter standing closest to the body was trembling violently, drenched in cold sweat like a downpour.
“You bad human must be punished!”
“Bad human!”
“Such a bad human!”
One of the fairies giggled and punched the corpse’s left arm.
How small could a fist be when held by a fairy the size of a palm? With a fist no bigger than a cotton swab, the corpse’s left arm was instantly torn from the shoulder with a snap and sent flying far away.
Cackling laughter burst from the fairies, as if they’d just witnessed the funniest prank in the world.
“Hngh...!”
The supporter covered her mouth with her hand, stifling a scream at the gruesome mutilation. Blood splattered across her face as the arm flew off.
No one blamed the supporter for her panicked reaction.
The deceased dealer had been A-rank. And even if it was a corpse, to have an awakened hunter’s arm flicked off like that with a light punch—
‘...Their aura feels incredibly weak, though.’
The dealer who had rushed to attack the fairies out of excitement had clearly been reckless—but not so much that it was entirely unjustified.
The fairies’ presence felt extremely faint. If graded, they’d register as D-rank monsters.
No one knew how to make sense of the current reality, where an A-rank dealer had been killed in an instant by what felt like a D-rank monster.
Even veteran hunters who had seen and survived countless dangers couldn’t easily shake the confusion and shock that came with the collapse of accepted logic.
Fuck.
I was no different—my body had frozen too. Even trying to assess the situation calmly, my fingertips felt ice cold.
I had to rescue someone who’d been abducted by an unidentified entity with an unknown grade.
I struggled to weigh the options—whether it was better to let the quest fail or to save Dan Yeoun’s life.
If the quest penalty was just a bit of blood coughed up, then abandoning Dan Yeoun might actually be—
He’s an S-rank healer slated to join Circle...
Even if this weren’t a quest, he was too valuable a talent to kill off. But if I rushed in recklessly against that “fairy” monster, I had no idea what would happen.
I tried to imagine every possible scenario I could. A headache throbbed through my skull, and my clenched fist grew clammy. That was when—
“You’re not going?”
“There’s a door right here! This is the exit!”
“Not going? Humans not leaving?”
“Wanna play with us more?”
The fairies began giving the hesitant humans suspicious looks.
“Not going?”
“Gonna stay and play with us?”
“Should we make the exit disappear?”
“...!”
My heart sank at the mention of making the exit disappear.
They could do that? If we didn’t respond, would the exit really vanish?
If the exit disappears... how do we get out of here?
The location of the maze had shifted so many times internally, it wasn’t even certain we could return to the dungeon’s entrance.
Whether it turned to disaster or not, we had no choice but to move forward. Swallowing my fear, I parted my lips to speak on behalf of the trembling crowd—
But someone else spoke before I could.
“Before we leave through the exit, we’ll hold a meeting.”
The rigid voice was strikingly familiar. I lifted my head sharply to find the source.
“A meeting?”
“Are you staying until the meeting is over?”
“Then don’t erase the exit, okay?”
“Don’t move it. We’ll be leaving shortly.”
Kwon Taehyuk calmly replied to the fairies’ innocent questioning. Goosebumps shot up across my skin.
Whether I was shocked or not, he’d casually spoken down to entities that could kill him at any moment.
He then turned to the group.
“Let’s move over there and discuss what to do next.”
And without hesitation, he strode toward a quiet corner where there were no fairies. I genuinely felt like I might faint.
Others, still hesitant and watching the fairies nervously, began to follow Kwon Taehyuk one by one.
Thankfully, the fairies merely observed us with curious eyes. They didn’t interfere or stop us.
Haa...
First Dan Yeoun, now even Kwon Taehyuk’s life had nearly been at risk. Exhaling a heavy breath, I followed him.
Once we were far enough away from the fairies, people began to murmur.
“What... is this?”
“They feel like they’re low-rank. It’s not just me, right?”
“There’s clearly something wrong. An A-rank Hunter died in an instant... That doesn’t make any sense!”
“Shit, keep your voice down. Do you wanna die next?”
Taking advantage of the confusion, I approached Kwon Taehyuk. His profile looked chillingly composed.
Without bothering to call his name, I quietly reached out. He flinched as I grabbed his wrist.
To think he hadn’t even noticed an S-rank walking up and grabbing him—he was that out of it. I scowled at the startled look he gave me.
“Why did you do that?”
“Huh?”
“Why did you step forward? What if something happened and you ended up like that dead hunter?”
Flustered, Kwon Taehyuk hesitated before answering carefully.
“Someone had to. If we all stayed silent from fear and the exit really disappeared, that would’ve been disastrous.”
“I know. But I’m asking why you had to be the one.”
I swallowed the sigh rising in my chest.
“There are plenty of others. All experienced hunters who’ve been through hell and back. There’s even Park Minhyuk, who’s the team leader.”
“...”
“As Guildmaster, you have guild members depending on you. You should value your life more.”
“Well... I think that’s precisely why I had to step up. As the one responsible, I should take the risk. If not me, someone else might’ve confronted the monster—and that someone could’ve been one of my guildmates.”
His answer made my chest tighten. But I knew—Kwon Taehyuk had always been like this from the start.
That was why I had never considered him an unreliable ally. He was the kind of man who would take on the role others feared without hesitation.
At a loss for words, I released his wrist. Then he did the opposite—he grabbed my hand.
“...Were you worried?”
“Wouldn’t you be?”
I answered in the same tone and rubbed my forehead.
Even outside of the quest, Kwon Taehyuk was one of the “main characters.” Someone I had to protect going forward. I couldn’t let him die pointlessly in a place like this.
In the previous timeline, he’d survived until the war against the Catastrophe—but this time, events were different and more dangerous—
Wait.
A jolt shot through my brain. I’d nearly forgotten something important.
What happened before regression?
I quickly recalled my distant memories.
In the previous timeline... we’d cleared the dungeon successfully. But not everyone on the strike team survived.
I remembered clearly the relief I felt seeing that Ryu Sunghyun wasn’t among the dead.
The number of casualties had been around 10 to 20. I didn’t know the exact number, but I was sure it started with a “1.”
“Thank you for your concern. But I wasn’t acting recklessly. I assumed that as long as we didn’t act aggressively, communication was possible... Hunter Cha Seohu?”
Leaving the rambling, flushed Kwon Taehyuk behind, I rushed toward Cha Sahyeon.
I’d left him with a brief comment that I’d be back after talking to Taehyuk, and he had obediently waited in the same spot.
“Cha Sahyeon.”
“Hm?”
At my gesture, he leaned down slightly. I brought my mouth close to his ear and whispered.
“Is it here? The flower you called the ‘source of the energy’?”
“No. It’s not here.”
“So that means this is a place those cult bastards haven’t touched? That monster’s just naturally like that?”
“Yeah. Since you’re curious, I’ll tell you: those things have pretty big energy.”
“What?”
Blinking in surprise, I waited as Cha Sahyeon continued.
“It’s similar to the monsters that escaped during a dungeon break. If you use human grading standards, they’re above S-rank.”
Then they were SS-rank?
“Then why do they feel so faint?”
“Hmm. I think that white light is hiding their energy. And the plants surrounding this forest are dangerous too, so {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} don’t get too close.”
I looked over at the fairies chattering in the distance. Indeed, a faint white glow radiated from them.
Not just the fairies—even the plants were dangerous. It made me wonder if this fairy-tale-like setting was a deliberate illusion set by the monsters.
...Still, I think I’ve got a rough idea of how to save Dan Yeoun.
Organizing the information I’d gathered, I continued questioning Cha Sahyeon a bit further.
While Cha Seohu and Cha Sahyeon were talking, the rest of the group was engaged in an increasingly heated argument.
“Rescue them? Rescue what? Do you even know where they went? You’re not seriously thinking of asking those insane monsters, are you? Count me out.”
“So we just leave them? It wasn’t just one or two—it was seven people!”
“And putting everyone else at risk for those seven is okay? The best way to minimize casualties is to leave through the exit.”
“We should at least try! You’re really going to abandon kidnapped teammates? You’re just scared and running away!”
“And if someone else dies poking that monster? You gonna take responsibility?”
“Let’s be real—they’re probably already dead. No need to get ourselves killed too.”
“He’s right. It’s not like we entered an S-rank mega-dungeon thinking everyone would make it out alive. If someone has to die, it might as well be the ones who are already gone...”
“Excuse me? Did you just say that out loud?”
At this point, it was more of a brawl than a meeting.
The clash between the two sides was obvious, and it was clear who was losing.
Cha Seohu knew from the quest that Dan Yeoun and the others were still alive, but the rest had already given up, assuming they were dead.
A hunter, scoffing at the idea of even trying, sneered as he stared at those arguing for rescue.
“Then why don’t you go talk to the monster directly instead of dumping it on the dealers? Our lives matter too.”
Since most of the kidnapped were supporters, those arguing for the rescue were mostly supporters themselves. The hunter’s jab was clearly targeting them.
Many dealers viewed rear-supporters—those who had no enhanced physique and could only give buffs or heals from the back line—as naive and detached from reality.
Even though it made sense for supporters to remain at the rear in a dungeon, some dealers mocked and looked down on them.
Now, faced with open insult, the supporters’ faces twisted. Another shouting match was about to erupt—
“Shall I, then?”
A calm voice suddenly cut in.
Everyone turned to look toward the back.
Kwon Taehyuk and Park Minhyuk, who had planned to intervene; Ryu Sunghyun and Song Jiwoon, who’d been watching the situation unfold; Cha Sahyeon and J, who stood silently—
All their gazes were fixed on one person.
Cha Seohu smiled as he said,
“So you’re okay with someone going directly to confront the monster? Don’t worry—I won’t push it onto any of the dealers. I’ll do it myself.”

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