‘Are we really going to an RP dungeon?’
In the meantime, Mephisto had climbed up with a plop onto Guru’s head and settled there.
Guru stood with her arms crossed, staring at her tablet in thought.
He’s just a scammer, and yet he’s aiming for something that insane.
No matter how incredibly brave she was as an S-Rank Hunter, or how the black flame dragon slumbering inside her thirsted for Ham Honggi’s blood—
The RP dungeon’s sheer presence at that rank was overwhelming.
A bloody vendetta... or personal safety.
That was the dilemma.
Just then, Mephisto pecked forward with his beak as if pointing ahead, and a quest window popped up in front of Guru’s eyes.
Ding!
[Caregiver Quest!]
[Caregiver ‘Mephisto’ is not yet complete! Let’s find the ‘Fragments of Mephisto’ in the RP Dungeon and show some filial piety!]
[Reward: 100,000 Filial Piety Points]
Guru’s pupils trembled as she read the reward section.
What the...?
She had already poured all her accumulated [Filial Piety Points] into hatching Mephisto. Which meant she currently had a grand total of zero. Instantly broke.
And yet, the reward for this quest was...
100,000?!
It was an amount of [Filial Piety Points] far too massive to refuse.
“Getting a glimpse of you is harder than I expected, Team Leader Jin.”
“I’ve just been a bit busy... It’s been a while, Doctor.”
Smiling gently and scratching his cheek, Jin Siwon leaned back against the sofa.
Across from him, the doctor adjusted her glasses and gave a light smile.
“Team Leader Jin Siwon. If you had to score your mood over the past month on a scale from one to ten, what would it be?”
“Hmm, maybe a four? I’m just living normally. Is that how you say it?”
“Your phrasing’s awkward, but I get the nuance.”
“Language is hard, no matter how much I study...”
“You actually pick it up quite fast. It’s impressive, really.”
“Thank you. I’m trying my best every day.”
Aja aja! Jin Siwon pumped himself up with a little cheer.
“People keep doing that when they go to company dinners. Must be some kind of Korean magic spell. As soon as they chant it, everyone turns into beasts.”
“People who do that are usually pretty old, right?”
“Kind of? Actually... yeah, very.”
The doctor laughed out loud and tapped away on her keyboard.
“Team Leader, do you not have that dream anymore?”
“If I’d known there were this many annoying steps, I wouldn’t have defected to Korea. Would’ve been nice if someone warned me before I applied for citizenship.”
Jin Siwon let out a faint chuckle with a biting joke.
“As I always tell you, this is standard for every S-Rank. You’d go through the same if you defected to any other developed country. People who can destroy a city like it’s morning stretches... if something were to go wrong on our end...”
She tapped her temple twice with her index finger.
“...it’d be a problem. You understand, right? Wasn’t Intelligence even stricter?”
“Ugh, you caught me.”
Jin Siwon raised both hands in mock surrender.
“Don’t try to fool a doctor. Even if it seems pointless, all of this contributes to your well-being. So please focus.”
“It’s not just that... The RP dungeon just appeared outside.”
“Korean guilds are extraordinarily elite, even compared to other advanced nations.”
“Except for Hyeonak, huh?”
The doctor widened her eyes at Siwon’s pointed remark.
“Sorry?”
“The Association already designated the guilds for this RP operation, and Hyeonak isn’t one of them.”
“Oh, well, when things seem really dangerous, they usually shove Guildmastuh On Jurim in first. Isn’t that what the Special Awakener Act was made for?”
Jin Siwon nodded as the image of On Jurim crossed his mind. That guy really was something else. Actually... was he even human?
“Korea sure puts a lot of faith in Guildmastuh On Jurim.”
In any other country, the appearance of an RP dungeon would’ve caused immediate panic.
From S-Rank dungeons upward, failure to clear them essentially guaranteed at least thousands of casualties.
But Korea remained calm.
Since the Cataclysm, Korea was the only country without a single dungeon break. Most people just grumbled that traffic was bad on the way home from work.
And Jin Siwon now understood that the reason behind that serenity... was On Jurim.
“Yeah... That’s true.”
Despite sometimes getting dirty looks, On Jurim was Korea’s pillar.
A survivor of the first generation from the Tower. The only one who closed a Great Dungeon alone a year ago. An absolute powerhouse who never faltered under any assault.
His very existence comforted the people and dulled their sense of crisis.
The Bureau Chief often muttered, “As annoying as that bastard is, his relaxed, lazy-ass face actually helps national security. The moment his expression twists, all the panic we’ve been holding back will explode.”
“Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“Sure.”
Siwon sipped the coffee she handed him and smiled.
“But caffeine’s fine? Isn’t that technically a psychoactive substance?”
“Foreigners always know the strangest advanced vocabulary... There’s even an S-Rank who’s a well-known caffeine addict. So drink up. Want more?”
Siwon shrugged.
The doctor suddenly recalled their first interview.
A man from a ruined country.
His ashen blond hair and green eyes made him look all ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) the more mysterious.
“Have you chosen a Korean name yet?”
“I’m going with Jin Siwon. No particular reason. Just easy to pronounce.”
“Then I’ll call you Jin Siwon from now on. That okay with you? And if you’re curious about anything, feel free to ask. Anything at all. Just chatting with locals can help you adjust.”
Evgeny Markov—or rather, the man now known as Jin Siwon—fell into deep thought.
“Doctor. Do you know how many people it takes to destroy a country?”
His question was teasing, but also cut deliberately into a painfully sensitive place.
It felt like he was probing her heart—the part of her that had been ordered to extract whatever she could from him.
“Well... it used to require an army, but nowadays? Probably not that many. A unit of top-rankers, maybe?”
To that, Jin Siwon replied with a smile tugging at his lips.
“One person.”
Siwon lowered his gaze.
I still dream.
The blazing mansion. The roaring tanks and fighter jets. The shrieking sirens. The endless screams. The stench of blood and gunpowder.
And the golden hair, curling in waves.
In that vision, where everything burned blood red, she smiled as she spun round and round.
"This isn’t the end. Look over there."
She pointed to the entrance of the Great Dungeon.
“Doctor.”
“Yes?”
“Do you think this time... I can protect them?”
Among people passing by without an ounce of fear, Jin Siwon felt his own otherness laid bare.
Inside their boundless sense of security, he could never truly blend in.
“I’m terrified every single day.”
RP Dungeon Countermeasure Situation Room, inside Hyeonak’s base camp, Mapo-gu.
“RP’s such a mystery~~”
Kim Jongwon, leader of Hyeonak’s Raid Team 1, added a strange chant-like tune to his words.
“Hyung, your singing is actually criminal.”
“Team Leader, that song is hilarious.”
Gidan grumbled about the bad singing, while Nayeon burst out laughing.
“Hunter Nayeon, are you looking down on me just ‘cause you used to be an idol? You sing that well, huh?”
“I wasn’t an idol, I was a trainee. How about we all hit karaoke after this is over?”
“Noona, my ears are already bleeding. If we go to karaoke, I’m dead. If my ears hurt, I can’t go to school. If I can’t go to school, I’ll fail. If I fail, I can’t run dungeons. If I can’t run dungeons, the country collapses, and the world ends...”
“Hm, Dani. Then I’ll protect the world.”
“Nooo. Worry about Dani’s attendance record before world peace, please.”
Gidan groaned dramatically and shook his head.
While the others chatted away, Jurim exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke.

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