Declaration Of Extra Strike

 [This is an emergency. Unscheduled dungeon breaks are occurring worldwide. Awakeners are urged to report to their nearest guilds or public agencies in accordance with the Awakener Code. Civilians, evacuate designated danger zones immediately. Please avoid traveling by car as road congestion is severe…] 

Dungeon breaks were popping up all over the world, and those colossal black columns weren’t unique to Korea—they were being reported in other countries as well.

 

The only silver lining was that major cities like Seoul had plenty of Hunters and guilds, enabling a faster response. By the time we reached the vicinity of Nox headquarters, most dungeon breaks in Seoul had already been contained, with guilds dispatching reinforcements to less-defended regions.

 

The swift and coordinated response was impressive, but the devastation was still undeniable. Collapsed buildings and a constant stream of ambulances painted a grim picture. Each time I saw a reminder of the damage, I compulsively checked the quest timer again.

 [3 days 0 hours 3 minutes] [2 days 23 hours 47 minutes] [2 days 22 hours 59 minutes] 

“………..Crap, this is bad.”

 

Up until now, even when the quest descriptions talked about apocalypse or destruction, I had never truly believed it. Sure, I took the tasks seriously because the rewards mattered and failure wasn’t an option. But I hadn’t really imagined people I knew dying, or businesses turning to rubble.

 

Yet now… seeing massive monsters swimming across the Han River as if they owned it, the cold weight of dread sank deep into my bones. Something had gone catastrophically wrong.

 

Before arriving at Nox, we stopped at a temporary shelter to drop off Han Chang-sik and Jin-dol.

 

“Stay here until things calm down. Don’t move around unless you absolutely have to.”

 

“This… What’s happening?” 

 

Han Chang-sik’s face was pale as he held onto Jin-dol tightly. “Thank you, Eui-jin. If we’d stayed back at the orphanage, we wouldn’t have made it this far. Be careful. I’m sorry……..Because of me…”

 

His gaze dropped to my injured shoulder, his expression guilty and pained. I could feel eyes boring into me from behind, likely the others in the car, so I kept it brief.

 

“It’s fine. Just stay safe.”

 

I shut the door before the conversation could drag on any longer.

 

Han Chang-sik, waving with Jin-dol in his arms, slowly disappeared from view. I pulled my head back inside the window and immediately locked eyes with the secretary, who had been fiddling with his phone while staring at me. 

 

He froze for a moment, caught red-handed, before hastily tucking the device into his pocket with a sheepish excuse.

 

“The guild master insisted. I had no choice.”

 

“How much have you told him?”

 

“He doesn’t know the exact circumstances of your injury yet.”

 

“Don’t tell him.”

 

“…Eventually, I’ll have to report everything.”

 

“Of course you will,” I muttered bitterly, already imagining Tae Jae-heon’s impending explosion of anger. My head throbbed just thinking about it.

 

***

 

When we arrived at Nox, I was escorted across the lobby by the guards. Curious glances followed us, but no one dared approach thanks to the guards’ intimidating presence.

 

It had been a while since I last walked through this space. Even back then, Tae Jae-heon never let me wander freely; I was restricted to my lab and a few approved floors. 

 

My eyes darted toward emergency exits and other potential routes, but the heavy security in place made me bite my lip in frustration.

 

‘Tomorrow was supposed to be the day I met Zero, and now this…!’

 

I would’ve preferred staying in the research complex. At least there, I had a better chance of seeing Zero. Here, I couldn’t even guess which floor Cheong might be on.

 

Inside the executive elevator, I frowned as the secretary pressed the button for the 60th floor—a strange choice.

 

“Why are you going there? Tae Jae-heon’s office is on the top floor.”

 

“You’ll be staying on the 60th floor from now on.”

 

The secretary nodded. 

 

Of course. Typical Tae Jae-heon nonsense. 

 

He used to keep me confined to the top floor, and now this? Was this another form of punishment? I grumbled but fell silent as I gazed out through the elevator’s transparent walls.

 

The higher we ascended, the clearer the view of the sky and the ominous black pillar piercing it. The pillar’s base seemed to sprout from Namsan’s peak, like a tree rooted firmly in the earth. Behind its inky silhouette, two celestial bodies hovered in the distance. For a moment, I forgot where I was and felt as though I’d been transported to another planet entirely.

 

“…What is that?”

 

“I don’t know…… It appeared along with the dungeon break, so… it’s probably something dangerous.”

 

When we reached the 60th floor, the elevator door opened, and the secretary stayed behind while saying that.

 

“Please go in first. I’ll bring a healer.”

 

“I don’t need one. I don’t take healing. Just bring me a potion later.”

 

As the secretary quickly made a call, I entered the room with the guards. I grumbled while looking around the unfamiliar room.

 

“Why did we come here instead of the main house?”

 

“The main house? The Cheon Rang took it over. Those crazy bastards… they need to be shown a lesson to come to their senses.”

 

“Cheon Rang?”

 

I had no idea what

he

was thinking. I wanted to ask more, but I bit my tongue at the secretary’s gaze and turned on the TV that was placed on one side of the room. As expected, all the channels were covering the events of the day.

 […Mysterious black pillars have appeared around the world. Many scholars say this is a sign of the world’s end, as told in ancient prophecies. The strange pillars, which have appeared simultaneously in several countries, and even two of them in South Korea, have raised many questions. The first people to notice these pillars were from New Zealand, who referred to them as “Arthur Towers” and suggested they were a new type of gate. According to some survivors who managed to escape the area affected by the pillars, the inside of the pillars appears to resemble a dungeon! A Hunter from Cardiff, Mr. A, in an interview with EPU Broadcasting…] 

Soon, foreign news was displayed as a reference. The size of the pillars shown on the screen, possibly from reports around the world, varied, but the scenes of people fleeing from monsters or staring blankly at the pillars were no different from what was happening in Korea. 

 

A Hunter from Cardiff, Mr. A, was seen excitedly shouting behind a thin pillar visible behind the Statue of Liberty.

 [It’s bigger on the inside!] 

A dungeon, huh? That was some ridiculous talk. He was basically saying the inside was huge and filled with monsters. It didn’t seem like the inside would just randomly turn into a dungeon, but for some reason, I had a bad feeling that I might have to go inside. Well, even if that happened, it probably wouldn’t matter to me. I’m in the crafting field, after all.

 

While I was watching the news with a serious expression, one of the guards suddenly exclaimed, “Oh!” and tapped the shaved-head guy next to him. 

 

He then showed the screen of the phone he was holding, and the shaved-head guy also exclaimed, “Oh!” in awe and called over the other guards around them.

 

“Oh!”

 

“Oh… Wow.”

 

“Ohhh!”

 

“What are you doing?”

 

I was getting annoyed by their childish reactions, like primitive people discovering fire, and slapped them, asking what they were looking at. They glanced at me and the secretary, then the one who first discovered the post spoke up when the secretary asked, seemingly curious as well.

 

“It’s a post that went up on Huntropolis. In just five minutes, it got over a thousand recommendations, and there’s one post with a lot of comments. I saw it.”

 

“What’s the post about?”

 

“A citizen wrote a theory about why the pillar, or the tower, appeared. It’s actually quite plausible. The theory is that the tower is a kind of monument. The countries where the towers have appeared, including ours, are eleven in total, and the common point in eight of them is that an S-class Hunter or an equivalent awakened individual has died within the past three years. The United States, India, Italy, the United Kingdom, Egypt…”

 

The theory about the monument was too uninteresting to even laugh at, but the reasoning behind it was something that seemed to align with what I had been thinking. 

 

If an awakened individual corresponding to the constellations had died and that caused the pillar to appear…

 

“The commotion on Huntropolis in Korea is currently stirred up by speculation about the recently deceased awakened individuals. If that statement is true, it means that two S-rank individuals have died in Korea. In fact, one of them has almost been confirmed, as citizens working at the Esper Guide Center have come forward, claiming that an S-rank guide died within the last three years…”

 

“That’s nonsense.”

 

Just then, a voice behind us made everyone jump. We all turned quickly to see Tae Jae-heon entering the room with a displeased expression. The guards quickly stood at attention, and the secretary hurriedly turned off the TV and bowed.

 

“Good to see you, sir.”

 

Tae Jae-heon, with a disapproving look, scanned the room. He noticed my dirty clothes and clicked his tongue in annoyance. The secretary, noticing this, quickly gestured for the guards to step aside and spoke.

 

“Eui-jin nim requested a potion, so we didn’t call for a healer. I will bring the potion immediately…”

 

“Why are you injured?” 

 

Tae Jae-heon cut in, raising a hand to stop the secretary from speaking. His gaze, fixed on me, made me feel as though I had to answer. I shifted uncomfortably but tried to act nonchalant as I mumbled.

 

“I didn’t want to leave behind a civilian, and they were with a dog…”

 

“And that’s a good reason to get injured?”

 

‘’So what if it is, you bastard.’

 

 

I thought, but instead of saying what was on my mind, I bit my tongue. Arguing with someone like him would only make me worse off.

 

“It’s not even that bad. A potion will fix it so why are you making such a fuss?” 

 

I was worried that Tae Jae-heon might take an interest in Han Chang-sik, and in my anxiety, I ended up speaking more arrogantly than usual. Tae Jae-heon raised an eyebrow at my words.

 

Just then, a guard came back with a potion. I was about to grab it and quickly drink it to avoid further complaints, but Tae Jae-heon quickly stepped in front of me, snatching the potion out of my hand. I looked up at him in confusion as he locked eyes with me while speaking to the secretary.

 

“Call a doctor to perform basic treatment.”

 

“But he might have fractures from the fall. It’s better to bring in a healer—”

 

“No. Eui-jin needs to learn the basics. There’s no point in wasting energy on worthless things.”

 

“Fck…Is this really how you’re going to play it?”

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